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The Telegraph
The Telegraph
National
Ben Riley-Smith

Rishi Sunak set to become PM as Boris Johnson pulls out of Tory leadership race

Rishi Sunak is set to become prime minister after Boris Johnson dropped out of the race - Daniel Leal/AFP via Getty Images
Rishi Sunak is set to become prime minister after Boris Johnson dropped out of the race - Daniel Leal/AFP via Getty Images

Rishi Sunak is set to become prime minister after Boris Johnson dropped out of the race to be the next Conservative Party leader.

In a 300-word statement issued on Sunday night, Mr Johnson said he had concluded that even if he could win the contest, he did not have enough support among Tory MPs to govern.

Mr Johnson said: “I am afraid the best thing is that I do not allow my nomination to go forward and commit my support to whoever succeeds. I believe I have much to offer but I am afraid that this is simply not the right time.”

The decision to withdraw from the race reversed indications from his campaign all of Sunday that he was determined to stand, in what would have been a remarkable comeback.

However, Mr Johnson made clear in his statement he has not given up on another tilt at Number 10 in the future, insisting he remains the Tory best placed to win the next election.

The announcement means that Mr Sunak, the former chancellor who missed out on the leadership in the summer in defeat to Liz Truss, will in all likelihood become prime minister.

He had stormed ahead of his rivals, Mr Johnson and Penny Mordaunt, the Leader of the House of Commons, in public endorsements on Sunday, including with big name Tories.

Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, endorsed Mr Sunak - comparing him with Winston Churchill in his willingness to speak the “truth”.

Rishi Sunak pictured on Sunday, as a string of leading Brexiteers backed him for the Tory leadership - AP/Alberto Pezzali
Rishi Sunak pictured on Sunday, as a string of leading Brexiteers backed him for the Tory leadership - AP/Alberto Pezzali

Mr Johnson may have been aware of the decision - the pair spoke on Sunday. The Johnson camp had indicated that they would have tried to keep Mr Hunt in the Treasury if they won.

A string of leading Brexiteers had also come out for Mr Sunak on Sunday, including Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, and Steve Baker, the former Brexit minister.

Mr Sunak’s victory is not yet guaranteed. Ms Mordaunt, the only other candidate still declared in the race, is expected to fight on and has until 2pm on Monday to secure the 100 Tory MP nominations needed.

Much depends on whether she can hoover up Mr Johnson’s backers - a task that could be tricky given she is on the moderate wing of the party, unlike some of them.

At the time the news broke, Mr Sunak had been publicly endorsed by 132 Tory MPs, followed by Mr Johnson on 58 and Ms Mordaunt on 25.

In his statement, which dropped around 9pm on Sunday, Mr Johnson insisted that he had secured the private backing of 102 MPs - though he did not publish the names.

That would have meant he would have made it onto the ballot and all Tory members would have voted this week to decide which candidate would have won.

Mr Johnson wrote: “In the last few days I have been overwhelmed by the number of people who suggested that I should once again contest the Conservative Party leadership, both among the public and among friends and colleagues in Parliament.

“I have been attracted because I led our party into a massive election victory less than three years ago - and I believe I am therefore uniquely placed to avert a general election now.

“A general election would be a further disastrous distraction just when the Government must focus on the economic pressures faced by families across the country.

“I believe I am well placed to deliver a Conservative victory in 2024 - and tonight I can confirm that I have cleared the very high hurdle of 102 nominations, including a proposer and a seconder, and I could put my nomination in tomorrow. There is a very good chance that I would be successful in the election with Conservative Party members - and that I could indeed be back in Downing Street on Friday.

“But in the course of the last days I have sadly come to the conclusion that this would simply not be the right thing to do. You can’t govern effectively unless you have a united party in parliament.

“And though I have reached out to both Rishi and Penny - because I hoped that we could come together in the national interest - we have sadly not been able to work out a way of doing this.”

The line about holding talks refers to conversations he had with Mr Sunak and Ms Mordaunt over the weekend.

For 60 minutes on Saturday night, Mr Sunak and Mr Johnson talked face-to-face and without others present, in a meeting requested by the former prime minister.

While the conversation was “perfectly pleasant”, according to a source who talked to one of the candidates on Sunday, no deal was struck.

Mr Johnson also discussed the race with Ms Mordaunt, who is a distant third in public endorsements but is still insisting she can win, on Sunday afternoon.

The Telegraph revealed that Ms Mordaunt had rejected Mr Johnson’s attempt to convince her to drop out and endorse him, instead suggesting that he should quit the contest.

Penny Mordaunt, pictured arriving for a television interview on Sunday, is still insisting she can win - Henry Nicholls/Reuters
Penny Mordaunt, pictured arriving for a television interview on Sunday, is still insisting she can win - Henry Nicholls/Reuters

Mr Johnson’s statement also makes clear that he still harbours hopes of a comeback.

“I believe I am well placed to deliver a Conservative victory in 2024,” he wrote at one point.

That claim - that he is the Tory best placed to win the next election - is likely to be repeated by his backers throughout the next 18 months.

The next prime minister will inherit opinion polls that show the Conservatives trailing Labour by more than 30 percentage points and an economy gripped by crises.

The next 12 months are likely to feature public spending cuts and possibly tax rises as the next Tory leader tries to mend some of the economic damage from Liz Truss’s premiership.

Mr Johnson’s allies predicted to The Telegraph over the weekend that he may choose to stay away from frontline politics and make money, being well-placed if the next Tory leader falls.

The claim that Mr Johnson would have won with Tory members if their rivalry had gone to a head-to-head members vote is also likely to be disputed by Mr Sunak’s supporters.

However, with Mr Johnson dropping out, the result can never be proven - allowing the former prime minister to continue to portray himself as an electoral winner forced out by his own party.

There was an indication that Mr Johnson will be supportive. He ended his statement by saying that he will “commit my support to whoever succeeds”.

However, there was also a dig at his two other rivals, suggesting Mr Sunak and Ms Mordaunt did not “come together in the national interest” when approached by Mr Johnson.

For Mr Sunak, Mr Johnson’s departure means he is now on the brink of entering Number 10, less than two months after losing to Ms Truss had left him devastated, according to allies.

Not all Mr Johnson's backers followed his message of support to whoever won the contest in his absence.  

Nadine Dorries, one of his most ardent Tory MP supporters, suggested it was now "impossible" to avoid an early general election under the next Tory leader.  

Mr Sunak had for the first time in the contest outlined his vision for the top job in public on Sunday, posting a statement on Twitter:

Ms Mordaunt, however, is still standing and on Sunday was insistent that she could win. Mr Johnson’s departure gives her an opening, although time is running out to find the 100 Tory MPs needed.

She is now making a late pitch for support, promising an economic policy of “delivering a lower tax, higher productivity economy, underpinned by essential financial stability”.

Ms Mordaunt wrote in The Telegraph: “I know that being prime minister is a huge responsibility. And I’m ready for that. I’m ready because I know the honour of leading the country comes from demonstrating a total commitment to moving our great country forward towards greater prosperity and a better life for all our people. It requires unity, discipline, competence and honesty. I’m ready to serve.”

Ms Mordaunt has less than 24 hours to more than triple her support from Tory MPs. On Sunday, a prominent backer of Mr Johnson told The Telegraph they would not switch. 

A Mordaunt campaign source said: “Penny is still running to be the leader of the Conservative Party. 

“Penny is the unifying candidate who is most likely to keep the wings of the Conservative Party together and polling shows that she is the most likely candidate to hold onto the seats the Conservative Party gained in 2019.

“Ed Balls [the former Labour shadow chancellor], shadow cabinet ministers and Labour advisers have all said Penny is the candidate Keir Starmer fears the most.” 

Mr Sunak, if he wins, is expected to appoint a Cabinet with representatives from across the different Tory MP factions, according to allies, given the challenge of creating party unity.

Mr Hunt, backing Mr Sunak, wrote: “Over eight decades ago, Winston Churchill offered the country ‘blood, toil, tears and sweat’. That searing honesty in the face of an existential threat was one of the greatest moments of leadership in our history.

“Because he told the truth, the country listened, believed him and followed him. Now is a different moment. But the same principles apply. The British people want leaders who level with them in a crisis such as the one we now face.

“We have a leader who can do just that in Rishi Sunak. In the summer, Rishi warned that unfunded tax cuts would not be sustainable. He refused to tell people what they wanted to hear even though he knew that could cost him the chance to be prime minister. Sadly he has been proved right.”

Westminster reacted with shock to the news, after days of Mr Johnson’s team briefing the media that he intended to stand because he had enough support from MPs.

Mr Sunak paid tribute to Mr Johnson’s work in government on Brexit, the Covid vaccine rollout and Britain’s support for Ukraine.

On Sunday night, a source close to Mr Sunak’s campaign said he was “not taking anything for granted” and would continue “to talk to colleagues tomorrow morning before nomination papers go in, and discuss how best to unite the party and take the country forward”.

Ms Mordaunt’s campaign said she was “still running” as the “unifying candidate”, despite having fewer than a quarter of the endorsements of Mr Sunak.

Nadhim Zahawi, who announced his support for Mr Johnson just hours before he withdrew from the race, remarked that “a day is a long time in politics” and said Mr Sunak would have his “full support and loyalty” instead.

James Duddridge, one Mr Johnson’s most loyal lieutenants who had claimed that he would be standing, said:

Ms Dorries, another ally, said if Mr Sunak is crowned leader “all hell will break loose because he has no mandate from the people”.

Meanwhile Labour repeated its call for a general election, with Angela Rayner, the party’s deputy leader, arguing that Mr Sunak would be elected “without him saying a single word about how he would govern”.

The pound was up sharply in early Asia trading after Mr Johnson dropped out, rallying as much as one per cent to $1.1409 on expectations that a potential Sunak premiership would be better qualified at trying to fix the nation’s finances.

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